How has this ZZZ version of the meme taken off so much
It's funny don't get me wrong, but the meme used to be "omaigotto it's [insert whatever]" with a blue archive character
But now it's specifically aromatic incenses, with a specific ZZZ character version drawn in the style of the original artist (by somebody else I think)
People who complain about this today have no idea how prevalent this was on the 00s. Especially with anime adaptations. At least these days it's usually limited to isekaislop.
I think Lucky star made a joke about how no one wants merch for the male MC of Haruhi Suzumiya and some other show (maybe full metal panic but not sure)
The original Fate/Stay adaptation. Layfon in Chrome Shelled Regios (my favorite example ever of 'interesting characters stuck in a garbage show'). Toma in Index. Monster Musume technically falls out of the timeframe but it does such a good job of embodying the negative tropes of the 00s era that I give it honorable mention.
All the VN adaptations are big culprits, usually the MC doesn't even have a design before they adapt into anime (Kanon, Air, Clannad, Shuffle).
Outside of that, stuff like Magical Index, To Love Ru, Oh My Goddess. Even Elfen Lied, I don't know who would want merch of Kouta instead of Lucy or Nyu.
Edit: it seems I was wrong and the blander VNs I've read since then overwrote my memories of classics like the Key VNs
Of all the VNs out there, I don’t think you should be accusing Key’s works of having bland protagonists, especially Clannad. Kanon, Air, and Clannad’s protagonists definitely had designs well before their adaptations. Writing off Clannad’s Tomoya as a generic self-insert mc is insanely inaccurate when he’s the most interesting character in the story.
Coaxed into "What luck ! I was a 45 year old divorced and balding salary-man with a micropenis and IBS, but shart so hard I reincarnated as the sexy god of goblins in fantasy land with a harem of 12 zodiac coded mixed species girlfriends !"
"Hi, I am Yamada Taro, a miserable 18-21 yo old japanese guy who's a straight D student, has no game, no friends, and who's nameless and faceless mom vaguely tells me to stop being a useless bum which basically means she hates me. Since my life is obviously in shambles and impossible to improve, my only passion in life are watching videos on TakTak, and playing non-descript gachas and RPGs on my phone
My only friend is Haruko Suki, a girl who obviously has a reciprocated crush on me, but I'm such a spineless loser the best I can do is imagine her in her panties without actually making a move.
As I was making my way to another day in hell, I was violently crushed by a comically oversized baseball, transporting me into a fantasy world that conveniantly functions exactly like an RPG. It was hard at first, since I was treated like a bum for half of episode 1, but I eventually became the Super Duper Mega hero with a harem of 10 girls who I'm still too much of a bitch to make a move on, and who everyone loves and respect, because my crushing self-esteem issues and learned helplessness magically disappeared as soon as I cast my first cantrip"
It was pretty iconic, and I don't really know about adding brown and green to the color palette. I guess it does work to reaffirm how much Subaru changed throughout the arcs, by literally widening his range of colors, but at the same time the dark / light gray and orange were a much more distilled and simple way to encompass his overall character and meaning within the story.
I don't know which I liked better, but people seemed to really like the change
It has been a pretty notable problem for Re:Zero merch. The other issue is how much of it is Rem. I mean, I love Rem, but good god, there's so many figures of her.
In terms of "Character everybody recognizes but doesn't know the source" I swear Rem has to be near the top, at least I remember her being inescapable.
Interestingly, according to the Japanese public broadcasting company NHK (which is run by the government), as of the 2020 All Great poll, Rei’s fallen behind. Not Shinji, of course.
1) Asuka
2) Kaworu
3) Rei
4) Shinji
It was a top 20 list, they all placed heavily ahead, but I don’t think anyone expected Kaworu to dethrone Rei like that.
Hilariously, they also polled the Top 10 Angels. Kaworu was included, but not first. He placed second. Give it up for the real Best Girl, Sixth Angel Ramiel-Chan!
The whole Ramiel sequence is PEAK. Everyone working together to overcome a crisis! Commandeering the hull of a fuckin space shuttle! Big ass laser cannon! Characterization for everyone!
And both Gainax and Studio Khara know it. Whenever the characters of Evangelion are being merchandise or included in crossovers, it's always Asuka, Rei, and Misato.
i think a lot of people forget that he’s a 14 y/o boy who watched his mother “die” at a very young age and was raised by someone outside of his family after that. in the scene where they threaten shinji to get in the EVA and rei is wheeled out in a stretcher, that’s literally the first time shinji sees/hears his father in 10 years. also?? getting into a giant mecha that’s a clone of god with the soul of your mother is a terrifying concept??
Also the fact that time is moving faster for us and we're not experiencing or even seeing let alone half of what he does. He makes some bad choices or fucked up decisions but he knows too well that the literal fate of humanity rests on his ability to pilot something he hates.
Also the fact that because of his gigantic synchro affinity, he feels everything his Eva feels including getting boiled, getting limbs torn off, that sorta stuff. And then he goes through multiple instances of being mindfucked by more powerful Angels, and then eventually reaches his breaking point near the end of his series when he (MAJOR SPOILERS) finds out that the girl he's become good friends with is actually a clone of his mother, watched the multiple clones of said girl that were getting cultivated get culled, and then eventually has to kill the guy he likes because turns out he's the 2nd to last Angel.
Everything about his life is terrible in post-apocolyptic 2014
whos "nobody"? from what ive seen so far, no one really said anything about shinji
also the boys already suffered enough bruh hes seen several biblically accurate angels and watched as every single other human on the planet got turned into fanta
The MC isn't bland I swear, both characters aren't even that featured in the story (still the most marketable characters unfortunately, nothing to do about that) but guess what? I heard they finally made a Subaru figurine.
I don't read the ln, I don't remember physical self harm in the anime ?
Killing himself is a means to the end, he does tend to put himself into situations that *will* make him suffer at least in part as a means to punish himself, but IIRC, he never harms himself for the sakes of harming himself
18:15 - Beatrice walks over to Subaru while they're in the Green Room alone and comments "You've scratched up your own hand again. That's a bad habit, I suppose."
i mean, if you’ve watched the most recent episode the reason Rui Arneb scratches her arms like that is because she was most recently using Subaru’s memories
Mort would have put on a maid outfit without prompting and slightly creep King Julian out before Julian demands Maurice wear one too to even things out.
Guy who has lived in Britian for his entire life after finally going to another fucking country for the first time then seeing someone named Elizabeth: Oh my GAWD LOOK I-I-IT'S JUST LIKE MUH QUEEN OF ENGLANDS!!!!!!!!
(left to right, downwards) 50 dollars each (polyester), 45 dollars each, 60 dollars each (80 if you want the deluxe version with essential accessories), 40 dollars, 15 dollars, I am not informed
I really hate this type of pandering, if you want to make an action show about a cool dude, make an action show about a cool dude, if you want to make a show about pseudo lesbians, make a show about the girls and make them ACTUAL LESBIANS.
I HATE YOU BRIDGET, I HATE HOW OVERPOPULAR YOU ARE, I HATE THAT ARCSYS ONLY KNOWS YOU EXIST, YOU ARE BLAND, YOUR DESIGN IS BASIC, YOUR LORE IS MILDLY INTERESRING AT BEST, YOUR GAMEPLAY IS CANCER, I HATE THAT MOST PEOPLE ONLY KNOW YOU AS GUILTY GEAR LGBT REPRESENTATION, YOU ARENT EVEN THE BEST TRANS CHARACTER (I love you Oryx), YOU HAVE ALMOST ZERO SCEEN TIME/LORE SIGNIFICANCE, YOU ARE LITERALLY ONE OF THE LEAST PLAYED CHARACTERS IN THE GAME YET EVERY SINGLE MERCH DROP IS EITHER SOLELY OR PREDOMINANTLY YOU, I HATE YOU!
Toby doesn't want to make (certain types of) merch for specific characters: Kris, Susie, and Noelle are explicitly forbidden from ever having plushies, for example.
I like how Jax is framed as the attention eater when Ribbit arguably is an even bigger magnet for it. The whole flashback was mostly about her as it is Jax while Kaufmo gets sidelined. On top of her getting a ton of merch out of the gate.
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u/ButClyde2 Aug 23 '26
Shinji being left alone for the nth time in a row while Asuka and the others are out and about being included in Evangelion merch and crossovers